Family
by BobH2
Summary: In which Jim Kirk meets the wife he never had, and the granddaughter he never knew about, on the starship commanded by his daughter.
1. Chapter 1

_(Note: This is a sequel to, and contains spoilers for, 'The Second Life of Janice Lester')_

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I'm James T. Kirk.

Or rather, I used to be him. For the past thirty one years I've been Janice Lester; I've been her almost as long as I was him. For most of that time I had no idea who I really was. For most of that time the original Janice Lester was me, was James T. Kirk, Captain of the USS Enterprise. She's dead now, and though I can't prove it I'm betting her death had a lot to do with my memory slowly coming back.

Integrating my returning memories with those I have from the previous three decades, reconciling the person I used to be with the person I am now, has not been easy. I'm a mother of two children and I have a wife, all of whom love and adore me, and I them. That's who I am now, and my family are too precious for me to want to endanger them. My son, David, was killed by an enemy fifteen years ago.

Which is why I'm not revealing to anyone that I'm James T. Kirk.

Yet I'm compelled by duty, by my need to confront something I'm concerned might one day affect all our lives if left unchecked, to put myself in harm's way. I recently learned that six months ago Starfleet Intelligence removed a certain piece of outlawed technology from a secure weapons storage facility in Nevada and shipped to it to Camus II. Camus II is where the alien machine that switched the minds of Janice Lester and me is located. The outlawed technology is Khan Noonien Singh's brainwashing device, the same device that was used to overwrite my memories and make me forget who I really was for three decades. So you can see why something about that whole set-up would make me feel uneasy.

I don't know for sure there's something shady going on on Camus II but my instincts, instincts honed during years of serving on a starship and being responsible for hundreds of lives, tell me there is. I've learned to trust those instincts. If I hadn't I'd be long dead. I intend to discover what is going on, and if necessary to put a stop to it. I'm a middle-aged mom, a teacher, and not even a member of Starfleet, so it isn't going to be easy. Long odds then, but I've beaten worse.

And I intend to beat these.

Because they relied on codewords rather than names or personal contact, I was able to call in a few markers from thirty years ago to check out what Starfleet Intelligence was up to on Camus II. For what comes next I needed to call in another marker, a big one. Which is how I found myself in a shady bar in downtown Portland, largest city in Maine, the state where my wife and I currently live.

I was sitting with my back to the wall, at the table furthest from the door, and keeping a watchful eye on everyone in the place. I'd been there maybe ten minutes, slowly sipping my bourbon, when he finally entered. I wasn't sure he'd recognize me after all these years, but he did. As soon as he spotted me he made his way directly across the bar room. I stood up, and that giant bear of a man wrapped his arms around me.

"Janice Lester, as I live and breathe," he said, "it's been too long!"

"Over forty years, R.B." I said, though for him and James Kirk it was somewhat less than that.

"Hah! You and Jimbo were the only ones who ever called me that," he said.

"And you were the only one he'd ever let call him 'Jimbo'."

John Running Bear took the chair opposite mine and called the waitress over to order us drinks. I took the opportunity to study him. He was greyer, of course, and his face was more lined, but he was still recognizably the man Jim Kirk and Janice Lester had known at the Academy. For a year in there we were as tight as three people could be, then Janice tore everything apart.

"Y'know, I loved you and Jimbo as a couple. I really thought you were going to make it, and then...". His voice trailed off.

"Perhaps we did," I said, "in some other universe."

"When you quit the Academy, I followed what you were doing at first, but I lost track of you after you booked passage to Aragon IV - to get your fortune told, I'd imagine. I was amazed to learn you'd become a xenoarchaeologist, and even more amazed that you used an alien device to temporarily switch bodies with Jimbo."

"You know about that?" I said, surprised. "I thought Starfleet had classified the files on that affair."

"Please - this is me you're talking to. They haven't come up with a system yet I can't hack if I put my mind to it. I'm the guy who wrote the code that let Jimbo hack the Kobayashi Maru simulation, remember?"

"I do. Did you ever put those skills to non-nefarious use?"

"Oh, yeah. For the past few years I've been part of a team working on what we're calling 'holodeck' technology. In a few years, every starship in the fleet will be fitted with it.

"God, it's really good seeing you again, R.B.!" I said, and I meant it. "I heard you got married?"

"Yep, twenty five years ago now. He's a good man. Our daughter just had her first child. Can you believe I'm a grandparent?"

"Me, too," I said. "A grandson. We're getting old."

"Once upon a time, maybe. But with modern medicine sixty is the new forty, and you don't actually look any older than that."

"Good genetics; but you're right. We have the energy and resilience of forty year olds. Unless something happens before then, we should live to see a hundred and twenty."

"So why are we here, Janice. You don't get in touch with someone after forty years just to reminisce."

"I want to ask a favor..."

"Here it comes."

"I need to get into the Starfleet computer system."

"Before you tell me anything else - and you _will_ need to tell me why before I'd do that for you - there's something you need to have."

He reached into his pocket and slid a datachip across the table to me.

"What's this?"

"It's from Jimbo. He gave it to me years ago. Told me to pass it on to you if you ever reached out to me, and only then."

"What's on it?"

"I have no idea."

I gave him a raised eyebrow Spock would've been proud of.

"Seriously. I promised I wouldn't view its contents, and I never have. Scout's honor," he said, giving the old Boy Scout salute, "and Indian scout's honor, too. I suggest you digest whatever's on it, then we'll talk again. Now I have to go."

"Starfleet business?"

"Baby sitting. Me and the hubby have our granddaughter tonight. I wouldn't miss that for the world."


	2. Chapter 2

"C'mon, honey, we're going to be late," said my wife, impatiently. She was standing in the middle of the main room in our cottage on the coast of Maine, surrounded by luggage.

"Coming, coming," I replied, "I was just making sure I hadn't forgotten anything."

"We're only going to be gone a little over a week. I'm sure anything you've forgotten can be found on board the ship."

"Yes, OK, let's do it."

Janice took out her old communicator and flipped it open.

"Endurance, this is Lieutenant Janice Rand, Starfleet Reserve. Two to beam up."

As we dematerialized I felt the tingling throughout my body that had once been so familiar...

...and then we were standing on transport pads in the transporter bay on the USS Endurance. Its captain, Grace Coleman, was there to greet us.

"Welcome aboard, Moms!" she said, throwing her arms around us as we stepped down from the transport pads. This wasn't the way a ship's captain was supposed to greet people coming aboard her ship, but then our daughter had never been a big believer in protocol.

"Ready for your trip to Vulcan?" she said.

"Oh yes," I replied. I could hardly believe it was now a third of a century since I last set foot on that planet.

"Good. I'll introduce you to my senior officers, and then we'll get under way."

Since they were its twin lynch-pins, one of the most heavily used space routes in the United Federation of Planets was that between Earth and Vulcan. Goods and personnel were moving between the two constantly. Travelling at warp speed a Constitution-class starship could do the run in four days, making for an eight day round trip. Such missions were considered to be a milk run, so it hadn't been too difficult for Grace to talk Starfleet into letting us do a ride along. I was intensely curious about what was on the datachip John Running Bear had given me, but this trip had been scheduled for weeks now so it would have to wait until we got back. With her duties often taking her away from Earth for months on end, neither Janice nor I was going to pass up a chance to spend time with our daughter.

"So how's your love life?" I asked as we rode the turbolift. "Are you seeing anyone?"

"Not at the moment," admitted Grace. "There are some gorgeous women on this ship, but as captain it wouldn't be appropriate for me to hit on them. I'll probably look up some old flames when we get back to Earth after this trip."

When we stepped out of the turbolift and onto the bridge, Grace's senior officers were already lined up waiting for us. There were two white males, two black females, an Asian male, and two alien females. One of these was Vulcan and the other - towering over the others and with a short sword strapped to her thigh - had to be an Amazon. Grace started at the end of the line closest to the turbolift, introducing us to a short, round, round-faced woman whose uniform indicated she was in engineering.

"Moira Makutsi, my Chief Engineer," she said, "and good enough that she could've given Montgomery Scott a run for his money."

"Pleased t'meet ye," she said, "shaking our hands.

"Something else Moira shares with Mr Scott is that she's Scottish," said Grace, amused by the expression of surprise on our faces.

"Well, I was raised in me Mum's home town of Glasgow, aye, but I was born in Botswana, where my Daddy is from."

"This is Kevin Okuda, my Helmsman," said Grace. "He's from California, and this is Michael Shaw my Chief Tactical Officer, who hails from London, England."

We shook hands with both men, then moved on to someone Janice and I both knew very well.

"Zoe Nyonga, my Communications Officer."

"A pleasure to meet you both," said Zoe, pretending she didn't know us, as she had to. "I gather you were Communications Officer on the Excelsior at Khitomer, Lt Rand. I'd love to hear about it sometime, if you don't mind."

"Not at all," said Janice, "come along to our quarters when you get off tonight and I'll tell you all about it."

Next to Zoe stood the Amazon. At six-eight she was the tallest person present. She was fair-skinned, and wore her thick, blonde hair in a long plait that reached all the way down to her butt. At the end of it was an iron ball. From what I'd read, Amazons used this in battle, reaching behind their heads and swinging it round with deadly force and an impressive degree of accuracy. It was a requirement of her culture that she wore her short sword - which resembled a Roman gladius - at all times, as was having her arms tattooed. Her Starfleet uniform covered them, of course, but from the pictures I'd seen Amazons had some of the most ornate tattoos of any culture anywhere.

"Reyna Skullcrusher..." began Grace, only to be interrupted by the man in the nurse's uniform standing next to the Amazon.

"That would be the Boston Skullcrushers, of course," he said, "not the New York branch of the family. The social faux pas if you got the two mixed up doesn't bear thinking about. Why, it would be on a par with wearing white gloves after Labor Day. If we still had Labor Day."

"What?" I said. Reyna just growled at him.

Grace cast a warning look at the nurse, then continued.

"Reyna is from the caste of warrior-scientists on Amazonia and is both my Science Officer and acting First Officer. Her posting to Starfleet was approved by the Matriarch herself."

Amazonia was a relatively new member of the Federation. Their actual name for their planet and race was unpronounceable by anyone else, so they chose the name 'Amazon' for the rest of us to call them after reviewing the history and legends of various Federation member planets. 'Amazonia' followed from that choice, of course. They looked like Earth-standard humanoids, albeit taller, but could take a lot more punishment. Their internal organs were better protected and their bones much stronger, which they had to be to support that extra mass and height.

"What made you want to join Starfleet?" asked Janice.

"I liked the idea of being among people shorter than me," she replied. "On my own world I am a midget."

"Moving on," said Grace, obviously amused by our shock at someone so tall being considered a midget, "this is Nurse Carter Willoughby III. His family sat out World War III in the largest, most luxurious bunker in North America. We don't have money or large personal wealth anymore, but he still pretends like he's from New York high society of the nineteen-forties."

Willoughby had film-star good looks, and knew it. It was probably where his cockiness came from.

"Enchanted," he said, taking my hand and bending to brush my fingertips with his lips. "I can see where our beloved captain gets her beauty."

"Oh, he's a charmer, but he's not wrong," said Janice, smiling and squeezing my hand.

Then we came to the end of the line and a teenage Vulcan girl. What was a child doing on the crew of a starship?

"Doogie Howser," said Grace, and despite myself I let out a brief snort of laughter.

"I do not understand why Captain Coleman sometimes refers to me by this name," said the child, trying not to sound annoyed.

"My daughter is a fan of old video entertainment shows," I explained to her, "and she has always had a strange sense of humor."

"Dr Saavik," said Grace, "child prodigy and ship's surgeon."

"'Saavik'? There was another Saavik in Starfleet..."

"My mother. I am named for her."

"And she doesn't mind you being assigned to a starship at such a young age?"

"It was she who encouraged me. My learning abilities far outstripped those of my peers. Those who taught me in my chosen field of medicine say I have the abilities of a doctor twice my age and am the finest surgeon they have ever seen. My mother and I agreed it was illogical not to put my abilities to use merely because of my youth. When I demonstrated those abilities to Starfleet they agreed to make an exception and let me serve."

"And your father, what did he have to say about it?"

"I never knew my father. He died before I was born."

That was when, to use an ancient expression, the penny dropped and my stomach lurched.

"Your father," I said, "was he...human?"

Saavik looked at Grace, who nodded.

"He and my mother had a brief liaison. She was pregnant when she returned to Vulcan after his death. My father was David Marcus, son of Dr Carol Marcus and Captain James T. Kirk."


	3. Chapter 3

"Mom?" said Grace. "Are you OK?"

Without realising it I'd been staring at Saavik for several seconds, not saying anything.

"Sorry," I said, shaking my head, "I just had a 'senior moment'."

A granddaughter. I had a granddaughter.

"So you never knew your grandfather?" I said to Saavik.

"My connection to Captain Kirk has never been general knowledge because of safety concerns, but he visited me whenever he was able to. I...liked him."

He had been a real grandfather to her, then. Good.

"Time to get going," said Grace. "As soon as we've left orbit I'll have Dr Saavik and Nurse Willoughby show you to your quarters on their way back to sick bay. Right, stations everyone."

The crew took their positions, then Grace gave the order.

"Take us out of orbit, Mr Okuda."

As the Endurance smoothly pulled out of Earth's gravity well under impulse power I felt a lump in my throat; it had been too long, far too long since I had been on the bridge of a starship in flight. When we were free of the planet and had a clear line ahead of us, Grace gave the order and we punched into warp. God, I'd missed this!

"Dr Saavik, Nurse Willoughby," said Grace, turning in her command chair, "if you'd be so kind as to escort my parents to their quarters."

"Of course, Captain," said Nurse Willoughby.

On the way to our quarters, the nurse kept up an inconsequential but amusing banter with us while Saavik was quiet. Being a Vulcan, if she had nothing to say then she didn't say it. For my part, I studied her with keen interest. My granddaughter. That was going to take some getting used to. Hopefully, I'd get the chance to know her better over the course of our voyage.

Our quarters were larger and less spartan than I remembered from the Enterprise. We'd barely finished stowing our bags when Janice came up behind me, nuzzled her chin into my neck, then slid her arms under mine and started fondling my breasts.

"Someone's feeling frisky," I said, laughing.

"We're on a starship. How long has it been since you did it on a starship?"

"Too long."

"Me, too."

"We should do something about that."

So we did.

Early that evening (ship time), we had a visitor. It was Zoe Nyonga. She was dressed in a dashiki and carrying a bottle of Saurian brandy.

"You remembered," I said, as she, Janice and I hugged.

"How could I forget?" she laughed. "The first time we three got together was when - dressed in a dashiki and carrying a bottle of Saurian brandy - I visited the quarters you shared on the Enterprise."

"Only we weren't a couple then," said Janice, "just two women named Janice who'd been billeted together."

"That's true, but even then I could see you were attracted to Ms Lester here by the way you looked at her."

"So," I said, "do we call you Zoe or Nyota?"

"Call me Zoe, even in private. Nyota Uhura is dead."

She wasn't the only one. Uhura and Jim Kirk were both officially deceased, yet thanks to the machine on Camus II our minds lived on in different bodies.

"What's it like being part of a starship crew again?" asked Janice.

"I'm really enjoying it, even though by this point I could run a communications board in my sleep."

"And your other job?" I said. "Have you uncovered any members of Ares on board?"

"No, not yet, but there are a couple of people I'm suspicious of and keeping under surveillance."

Ares was the codename for a group opposed to peace that included the Khitomer conspirators who had tried to assassinate the President of the Federation seven years ago. Starfleet Intelligence believed the conspiracy was deeper and wider than had initially been thought and had recruited the then terminally-ill Uhura to be their agent on the Endurance, giving her the young, healthy body of Ares member Zoe Nyonga.

"How are you handling being young again?"

"I'm loving it! The stamina and, well, _appetites_ of a younger body are wondrous things. I've had sexual assignations with several handsome young crewmen already. And I certainly don't miss the aches and pains that age brings. So, basically, what's not to love?"

"Before we talk any more, let's crack open that brandy," said Janice.

"A fine idea," said Zoe.

Janice rustled up some glasses, Zoe poured, and we settled ourselves into chairs.

"Grace introduced us to her crew," I said, "but how do you rate them?"

"Well I adore Grace, of course, and it's a shame I can't let her know I used to bounce her on my knee as a toddler. As a Captain, she reminds me an awful lot of Jim Kirk, which is the highest praise I can give."

I smiled at this.

"What about the child, Dr Saavik?" I asked. "What's it like working with someone that young?"

"Fortunately, I haven't yet needed her services, but I've watched her tend to others and she's good, easily the equal of Leonard McCoy. As for her age, well, she's a Vulcan. There's none of the immaturity and emotionalism you'd expect in a human child her age. It's really no different than working with Spock."

"And her nurse?"

"Ah yes, Carter Willoughby III. He's a handsome devil, smooth and very self-confident but he can't resist winding up Reyna. She doesn't quite seem to know what to make of him - Amazon males defer to their women in all matters and would never do such a thing - but she still keeps coming back for more. Me, I think they should just get a room."

"Ah, the Amazon. I never imagined we'd one day have a Starfleet officer who went by the name Skullcrusher."

"It could be worse," said Zoe. "Other Amazon surnames include Eyegouger, Throatstamper, and Groinripper. But you're not alone in thinking the name provocative; in her Starfleet file they call her 'Reyna S. Crusher.'"

"Huh. Even 'Crusher' is a bit unseemly," said Janice.

"Moira Makutsi is cut from the same cloth as our Mr Scott and even has the same appreciation for fine whiskey. She and Scotty would get along like a house on fire. Kevin Okuda is cerebral, laid-back, and plays the bongos. Very little seems to phase him and he remains cool even under extreme pressure. Michael Shaw takes 'English reserve' to a whole other level. Polite, highly competent, but very difficult to get to know. Pleasant enough, but possibly just really, really shy when it comes to personal stuff."

"Thank you," I said. Zoe had given me a lot to mull over. These were Grace's senior officers, so I wanted to know they were the best.

"So," said Janice, "about these sexual assignations you've had with 'several handsome young crewmen'. Tell us more, and don't skimp on the details..."

It was a _good_ afternoon.

Janice and I dined with Grace in the captain's dining room that evening, and every other evening on the trip. Usually she ate in the commissary with her crew, the dining room being kept for wining and dining visiting dignitaries, but she wanted to catch up with us as much as we did with her, and the privacy helped.

At the end of four days we dropped out of warp near Vulcan and then moved into orbit around the planet itself. Since this was little more than a supply mission we weren't going to be here for much longer than half an Earth day, just sufficient time to transfer personnel, offload the goods we had brought, and to take aboard various materials we were transporting back to Earth. Which was a pity. Janice had been stationed on Vulcan for a while thirty some years ago and would have loved to have revisited some of the sights with me. Vulcan might be a hot, largely arid world, but the Temple of Amonak and Temple of T'Panit were worth seeing, and I'd always wanted to go sailing on one of the small seas scattered across the planet.

The family of Vulcan crewmembers were allowed to beam aboard to visit them for a couple of hours. This included Saavik, and I happened to catch a glimpse of two women entering her quarters. One I recognized as her mother from pictures I'd seen, but I didn't get a good look at the other. This would be remedied after our departure.

We were on the bridge, guests of the captain and half a day out from Vulcan, when Saavik introduced us.

"Grandmother," she said, "this is Janice Lester and Janice Rand, the parents of Captain Coleman."

"Pleased to meet you," said the woman, shaking our hands "I'm Carol Marcus."

"A pleasure to meet you, too" I replied, since she and Janice Lester had never met before. Carol was the mother of my son. I hadn't seen her in decades.

"So you're transferring back to Earth?" said Janice.

"Yes. I've spent the last decade on Vulcan so I could be close to my granddaughter as she grew up, but now she's serving on this ship there wasn't much to keep me there any more. My work is..."

That was when it happened.

"Captain," said Shaw, his voice cutting across Carol's, "instruments are registering gravimetric disturbances in the space ahead."

"Take us out of warp, Mr Okuda. No point taking any chances until we've investigated."

The ship dropped smoothly out of warp, and normal space appeared on the viewscreen. No sooner had it done so than a point of light formed directly ahead of us. This rapidly developed into a large, swirling, multicolored whirlpool.

"A temporal anomaly is opening in front of us," said Shaw, scanning his instruments.

Something small shot out of the center of the the whirlpool. As quickly as it had appeared, the whirlpool then vanished, swallowing itself up. What had been ejected from it appeared to be some sort of small craft, and it was now drifting aimlessly.

"Increase magnification, Mr Okuda," said Grace.

That was when it became obvious what we were looking at.

"It's an old Galileo-class shuttlecraft," I said, "but Starfleet hasn't used that design in decades."

"Lifesigns?" said Grace.

"Two," replied Shaw, "one human and one...feline?"

"We're being hailed, Captain," said Zoe.

"Onscreen, Lieutenant."

The face of the pilot, a young woman, filled the screen. Grace's jaw dropped, as did mine, and everyone turned to see my reaction.

"Greetings," she said, "I'm Janice Lester, captain of the USS Enterprise, and I need your help to rescue my husband, Jim Kirk."


	4. Chapter 4

"Captain, I'm registering a power build-up in the shuttle's systems," said Shaw, "they're about to go critical."

"Transporter room," said Janice, flicking a switch on the arm of her command chair, "get them out of there. Now!"

A few seconds later the shuttle blew up, the bright light from the explosion blinding us. When it faded there was nothing on the viewscreen, not even debris. The shuttle had been totally vaporised.

"Did we get them?"

"We got the pilot, Captain," came the voice of the transporter chief, "but we couldn't get a lock on the cat. I'm afraid we lost it."

An hour later the shuttle pilot was sitting across the table from us in the conference room. For obvious reasons, she and I could not keep our eyes off each other. She was wearing the same gold captain's tunic as I once had, dark trousers, and shoes rather than boots. But the thing that most fascinated everyone present was that she was thirty years younger than me.

"DNA scans confirm she is genetically identical to our Janice Lester," said Dr Saavik. "Telomere lengths are consistent with someone of her apparent age and show no signs of the manipulation that would be visible if she was a clone."

"Your caution is understandable," said our visitor, "but I hope that puts to bed any suspicion I might be an alien shape-shifter."

"So let me get this straight," said Grace, "you claim to be captain of the USS Enterprise and from the past?"

"Yes, but I don't think I'm from your past," she said. "The technology of your ship is clearly decades ahead of my own, but the presence of my doppelganger tells me I have to have crossed over into a parallel universe. We'd always theorized they existed, of course, but to have proof like this..."

"Then you're not from the Empire's universe?"

"What's the Empire? I serve the Federation. Look, I understand you playing things close to your chest until you're sure I'm not a threat, but would it be too much to ask you to introduce yourselves?"

Grace regarded her for a moment then nodded.

"OK, I'm Grace Coleman, captain of this ship, the USS Endurance. To my left is Dr Saavik, ship's surgeon, who ran the tests on you, and to my left is our Janice Lester, my mother."

"Your mother," she said, looking at us in astonishment.

"And to her left," Grace continued, "is Janice Rand, my other mother."

"So I'm _gay_ in this universe?" said Captain Lester. "Wow, wait 'til I tell my husband about _that!_. So, do starship captains usually travel with their parents over here?"

"Ah, no," said Grace, chuckling at the idea, "they just happened to be along on this trip."

"That does raise an interesting point, however," said Saavik. "Given how big the galaxy is, why did Captain Lester emerge where she did? Was her arrival point determined by the presence of her doppelganger?"

"A good question," said Grace, "but there are others I want answered first. Captain Lester, could you begin by telling us something about your crew?"

"Of course. My first officer and science officer, Spock, is a Vulcan. Nyota Uhura is my communications officer, Hikaru Sulu and Pavel Chekov are at helm and tactical, Montgomery Scott is my chief engineer, and in sickbay are Doctors Christine Chapel and Leonard McCoy."

"The same crew as on our Enterprise back then," said Janice Rand, "though Chapel and McCoy weren't both doctors."

"Nor on my ship to begin with. McCoy started out as Chapel's nurse."

"For obvious reasons, I'm intrigued by you and Jim Kirk being husband and wife and you being captain of the Enterprise," I said. "How did that come about?"

"We were at Starfleet Academy together and fell in love. I came top of our class, and he came second. We married soon after graduating, and our career paths led me to captain the Enterprise and Jim's to captain the Defiant. Unfortunately, we don't see each other as often as we'd like, and we've both accepted we probably won't ever have children."

She gave Grace a wistful look, then turned to me.

"What about you, Janice; did you attend Starfleet Academy over here?"

"Yes, and for a year Jim Kirk and I were a couple, but it didn't work out for us."

"Why not?" she asked, clearly intrigued.

"I resented the fact I could never captain a starship, and that resentment poisoned things between us. I ended up leaving and becoming a xenoarchaeologist."

This was exactly what had happened to Janice, and put her on a path to swapping our bodies on Camus II.

"Why could you never captain a starship? What was the problem?"

"Women weren't allowed to be starship captains then. Or, more precisely, though women were appointed to captain ships before and afterwards, there was a twenty year period when, despite there being no official policy to that effect, no women were appointed. Unfortunately, the selection board at that time was composed of misogynists, who claimed this was just a coincidence, and it took a lot of effort to move them aside and change things."

"What mission were you on that led to you washing up here?" asked Grace.

"We were answering a distress call from the USS Defiant. The ship had got into trouble in an area claimed as their territory by the Tholian Assembly. When we got there the Defiant was phasing in and out of normal space. It looked ghostly and indistinct."

The same thing happened to our Defiant. Was this the fate of that ship in every universe, I wondered?

"There are spacio-temporal fractures in space in that area," said Grace. "We've encountered them ourselves."

"Then you'll be aware of the effect they can have on the human mind. We had already sent over a shuttle containing several crewmembers. Fighting broke out among them so we had to haul it back with a tractor beam. Obviously, sending more than one person over was asking for trouble. The Defiant was Jim's ship, so I insisted on being the one to go. Dr Chapel was equally insistent I take our ship's cat Rusty with me, suitably caged, so that she could examine the effects on a non-human subject when we returned. We started out for the Defiant, but we never reached it. We hit some sort of spatio-temporal wave and, after tumbling through a kaleidoscope of inter-dimensional realms I don't have the words to describe, we were spat out here. I need to get back there and save Jim."

"I'd like to help you, Captain," said Grace, "but we have no means of returning you to your point of origin."

"You don't have the technology to travel between universes?"

"We experimented with it thirty years ago, and almost let in a scourge that could have destroyed the Federation and ravaged the galaxy. As it was we lost a planet and all its people. We can open a portal to another universe, but we have no way of determining which universe, unfortunately. The technology was deemed too dangerous to use again until we did."

This was all news to me.

"And you've never found a way?"

"No. I'm sure Starfleet is still looking, but they haven't cracked it yet."

Captain Lester's shoulders slumped.

"Then I'm stranded here."

"It looks that way, yes. It's probably small comfort, but Starfleet can always find a place for someone with your skills."

"Skills that are thirty years behind yours."

"The technology may have advanced, but the basic skills have not," said Grace. "They'll test you on a simulator, I'm sure, and I'd be very surprised if your skills don't translate."

"I...yes, I won't stop looking for a way to get back to Jim, but if I have to stay here I'd like that."

"Then I think that concludes this interview. Dr Saavik will escort you to see Lieutenant Skullcrusher who has tests of her own she'd like to run."

"Skullcrusher?" said Captain Lester, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a long story."

After they had gone, Grace turned to us.

"Well," she said, "what do you think?"

"We're civilians," said Janice, "so far more to the point is _your_ assessment of her."

"Assuming she checks out, she'd be a real asset,"

"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" I asked. "Are you considering requesting she be assigned to you as your first officer?"

"Why not?" said Grace, shrugging. "She'd be perfect for the role and there is a vacancy. Reyna's only filling in, remember?"

"So the fact she's a younger version of me has nothing to do with it?"

"It is intriguing, you have to admit."

"Yes, well, you're the captain so it's your decision."

"She looks like your biological mother but isn't," said Janice, "and you could be her daughter but aren't. What a strange universe, a strange _multiverse_ we live in."


	5. Chapter 5

We had been back home a day. I waited until Janice was occupied, remotely teaching a Starfleet Academy class from the room in our cottage we had put aside for that purpose, before sliding the datachip R.B. had given me into the computer terminal in our bedroom. An image appeared on the screen.

It was James T. Kirk.

Or rather the former Janice Lester, the person everyone had known as James T. Kirk at that time. Which, judging by his age, looked to be maybe fifteen years ago.

"Computer, play file," I said, and the static image became a moving one.

"Hello, Janice," he said, looking wistful. "If you're now watching this then you've sought out R.B. and I'm right in my suspicions about the process we underwent on Camus II. I'm also probably dead. I'm making this vid for you now because there's a good chance this will be my last night as an admiral in Starfleet. I'm about to have a meeting where I'll request use of the Enterprise to return to the Genesis planet and save Spock. I fully expect to be turned down. If that happens, then plan B is set in motion and by this time tomorrow I'll be a hunted fugitive. So, while I'm still an admiral and still have all the security clearances that come with the job, I've set up several dense false ID's for you and created several back doors into the Starfleet computer system. I've hidden these deep enough that I doubt even R.B. could find them. He taught me well. The access codes are on the datachip. I've done all this because while I cannot know the reason for you doing so, I _can_ be sure that reason is a good one. If you've gone to R.B. this will be what you wanted from him. Me doing it for you instead keeps his hands clean."

He paused, and sighed, looking tired.

"What I'm about to tell you I've told you before. When the machine on Camus II switched our minds it created a link between us that I knew would enable me to read your memories and absorb your skills. The catch was that this took time, and I wouldn't have what it takes to command the Enterprise until then. I needed the mind switch to establish the link, but I couldn't fully take advantage of it until I'd had time to absorb all your knowledge. It's what used to be known as a classic catch-22. So I deliberately made a mess of things, acting like I'd completely lost control, and allowed you to temporarily switch us back. It was all an act, even my apparent attempt to strangle you after we swapped places. Once the switch had been made by the machine it could only be undone by the machine. So we were still connected. After I'd absorbed all the skills and knowledge via the link that I needed to take your place permanently, I moved on to the next step in my plan and contacted you from the asylum on Elba II where I was incarcerated. Claiming I was convinced that only by overwriting my current, destructive personality with a newer, better one could I truly be well again, I asked you for the only device that could accomplish such a thing - Khan's brainwashing machine. And you came through, as I knew you would. Starfleet wouldn't have even entertained the use of the device for that purpose if the request had come from anyone below the rank of Starship Captain. I spent a long time working on the template, creating a version of Janice Lester that was more submissive and feminine, one that would revel in being a girl and desire nothing more than a strong man to make a home and start a family with. Only I didn't create that template for me - I created it for you. On Elba II, just as the device was about to overwrite my memory, I switched our minds so that the memory that got overwritten was yours. You were now Janice Lester, with no memory of ever having been anyone else."

He stopped to drink from a glass of water and gather his thoughts.

"Once the switch had been made by the machine it could only be undone by the machine. Which meant we were still connected. Your memories had been overwritten by Khan's device so I didn't think this mattered. I now believe I was wrong. The more time I spent as Jim Kirk the more I _became_ Jim Kirk. You may no longer have known you were him but you were, and that strength of character and those personality traits continued to feed into me via our link. When I met David Marcus for the first time my paternal feelings towards him were as strong as I know your own would have been. David, my crew, the Enterprise - my feelings towards all of these are much stronger than if I had merely been me, had merely been Janice Lester in the body of Jim Kirk. Which is why the datachip. If the link still exists between us - and it does - then it's two-way. Your memories may have been overwritten, but I have to face the possibility that our link might enable you to recover them at some point in the future. Should that happen, and should I no longer be around, I want you to still have the ability to make a difference. I owe you that much."

He leaned back and seemed to be staring directly into my eyes, which was disconcerting in someone seven years dead.

"It's odd to realise that by the time you view this, if you ever do, you'll already know the outcome of my mission to rescue Spock and whether I'm a wanted criminal or have somehow managed to turn things around. Know that whatever happens, I'm really looking forward to seeing David again. He and I finally have the chance to forge a proper father/son relationship. After seeing how you are with your children, and having envied you, I'm determined not to let this opportunity slip through my fingers. And that's about all I have to say. Goodbye, Janice, and good luck. Kirk out."

Leaning forward, he switched the recording device off and the image winked out. He had sounded so hopeful about beginning a relationship with David. Knowing what had happened next, I couldn't help feeling sorry for him.

I checked out the rest of the datachip and found the access codes he had promised.

"Alright!" I said, actually punching the air.

This was it, everything I needed. I was in business.


	6. Chapter 6

"Welcome aboard, Lt Cmdr Lester," said Captain Coleman as I stepped off the transporter pad.

"Thank you, Captain," I said, "it's good to be back on board a starship."

"You're OK with the demotion?"

"Frankly, I'm just glad my thirty year old skills are good enough to allow me _any_ position on one of your ships," I replied, as we headed out of the transporter room, "particularly after only a month in your time."

"The assessors at Starfleet Academy were all hugely impressed by your scores on the simulators. They proved you were the real deal. The only people who've scored that highly in the past were Jim Kirk and me. You have the ability, so it was just a question of getting you up to date on the specs of a modern starship. Given how quickly you absorbed that, I'm not at all surprised they fast-tracked your move to active service or that they commissioned you into our Starfleet at the rank they did. Fortunately, I'd already put in a request to have you join my crew or some other captain might well have snatched you up."

We had taken a turbolift and had emerged on the deck that held the officer's quarters.

"It's nice to be wanted," I said, "though if I find a way to return to my own time and universe and so can save my husband, I'll have to take it."

"Of course. I'd think less of you if that wasn't the case. In the meantime, I'm sure you'll become a valued member of my crew."

"I hope so."

"So what do you think of the new uniforms?"

I glanced down at mine.

"I like them," I said. "They're form-fitting and reminiscent of the Starfleet uniforms of my era, though they've switched the colors around. You and I would not have been in maroon tunics back then. Not sure about the black across our shoulders, though."

"I'm sure it'll grow on you. They're calling them 'new uniforms for a new century' on the recruiting posters."

"I do like the way our communicators are now incorporated into our Starfleet badges," I said, "and that all you have to do to activate those communicators is to tap them."

"Ah, here we are," she said, stopping outside a door, "your quarters. Press your thumb against the entry pad."

I did so, but nothing happened.

"Computer," said the Captain, "this is Coleman, Captain, authorisation alpha-delta-sigma. Record thumbprint on entry pad for room 76-D as key for entry."

"Acknowledged," said a mechanical voice, and the door to the room whooshed open.

"Welcome to your new home...Janice."

"Thank you, Captain."

"'Captain' when we're on duty, 'Grace' when we're not."

On impulse, she leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.

"Sorry about that," she said, blushing. "Not very professional, but it's just that you look exactly like my mother."

"It's ok...Grace," I said, "laying a hand on her arm. I understand, and I don't mind."

"It's a shame we weren't able to save your cat. Having a pet to come back here to, particularly from your own universe, would have been a good thing."

"I miss Rusty, but I'm just grateful you were able to rescue me."

"Thanks. Right, well, I'll give you an hour to settle in then I need you in the conference room for a meeting of senior officers."

"I'll be there."

When she left, I closed the door and surveyed my quarters. Nice, very nice. I touched my cheek where the captain had kissed it and smiled. She trusted me, but then why wouldn't she? I had the face of one of the people she loved most in all the world. I thought of Rusty and the shuttlecraft that had brought us here. It was a shame, but their destruction was necessary. I couldn't take the chance Starfleet had discovered the sub-atomic 'signature' unique to a given universe carried by all matter from that universe. If they had, and they had examined the cat and the shuttlecraft, they would have found that while I'm from another universe these were from their own. That would've been hard to explain, so I'd had no compunction about fitting Rusty with a scrambler collar that would make it impossible for a transporter to get a lock on him. When you've killed millions, a cat is nothing.

Everyone had bought my story, hook, line and sinker, but it was a tissue of lies. I couldn't be married to Jim Kirk because I _am_ Jim Kirk, the Jim Kirk of the 'mirror universe'. Thirty years ago, as Jenna Lawson, I infiltrated the crew of the Enterprise. Now I had infiltrated the crew of another Federation starship.

"Fool you once, shame on me," I said, smiling, "fool you twice, shame on you."

It was a mistake I would make sure they paid a high price for.

The End

_Note:_

_This tale is primarily about getting people into the positions I need them to be and introducing the crew of the Endurance, of course. We'll be seeing more of them. A crew that includes Kirk's daughter, his granddaughter, his evil doppelganger, and a member of the Enterprise crew in a new body has dramatic potential and should be fun to write about. How mirror-Kirk ended up here and what that bit with the cat was about will be explained in one of those tales set thirty years before this. Everything will link up eventually. _


End file.
